


Something Worth Living For

by MyDesign



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Bit of Fluff, Drama, F/M, No Spoilers, Oneshot, generic female SS (insert yours here!), guns and violence (have you played the game?)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-03 21:46:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5307998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyDesign/pseuds/MyDesign
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes an especially difficult run-in with some super mutants for Mac and our SS to realize some things are worth fighting for. A non-story-specific scene that takes place between initiating the romance with MacCready and any time you ask him for his thoughts after that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Worth Living For

**Author's Note:**

> I found the transition from MacCready's "Really? I never thought about us that way." to "We're going to be together foreverrrr!" a little abrupt, so I wanted to write this to fill in that gap a bit.
> 
> I tried to make the SS so generic that she doesn't even have a name or much of anything descriptive said about her, so hopefully you can picture her as yours. Nothing so jarring to me as reading a really good fic then suddenly being like "Wait, my girl doesn't have a shaved head...and she most certainly isn't named Ermantroid!"

 

 

A bullet between the eyes and another super mutant hit the ground. Every time one fell, it seemed like two took his place.  A savage yell and another one entered the fray, stepping over his fallen brother like he wasn't even there.  The one that followed him into the room was carrying a gun almost half his size.

 

She turned and dove for cover behind a broken cabinet. A bullet grazed off of the metal armor strapped to her chest and she cried out at the sudden pain.  At least a couple of her ribs had to be cracked, if not broken.

 

Behind her, she heard two loud, clear shots ring out from MacCready's rifle. She turned her head just as he lined up for a third.  Before he could get the shot off, blood shot out from his upper back in a wide spray.  He stumbled backwards a couple steps, a harsh scream involuntarily forcing its way up out of his throat.  His rifle dropped to the floor as he fell to his knees next to it.

 

"MacCready!" she yelled.

 

He pulled himself to a seated position about fifteen feet away from her, back pressed against one of the benches that was shielding him from the bullets flying overhead. He pulled his gun into his lap with the arm that he could still move and looked at her with a wry smile.  "I don't think I can take much more of this," she heard him say.

 

Having finally caught her breath, she ejected her mostly spent magazine and slammed a new one into her rifle. Waiting for the telltale pause in gunfire as the super mutants reloaded, she took the opportunity to take aim over the fallen cabinet and rain automatic gunfire on the three monsters at the far end of the room.  Two of them fell hard, the third staggered on a wounded leg.

 

Clip expended, she took cover again. Sparing a glance to MacCready, she saw him seated with his head tilted back against the bench behind him.  His right hand pressed to a gushing bullet wound on his left shoulder, eyes closed.

 

A new sound filled the air, an unnatural roar far louder and deeper than any of the other mutants. A half second glance from cover as she reloaded her gun revealed the source.  A new super mutant, almost double the size of the others, skin faintly glowing, had charged into the room.

 

She lifted her rifle over her head and blind fired it towards the mutants until the gun clicked empty. A sharp growl and a barrage of bullets was the response from the far end of the room.  The floorboards of the old church rattled beneath her, the uneven thumping growing closer gave her just enough warning that the wounded mutant was charging.

 

She tossed her empty gun aside and pulled the bladed tire iron out of the loop on her belt. Reacting quickly, she lunged forward from her crouch the same moment the mutant rounded her cover.  She sliced the blade through his unwounded leg, slicing it off below the knee.  The mutant fell to the floor, his guttural scream silenced as her blade severed his head clean from his body.

 

From the far end of the room, the giant super mutant was unrelenting. The rapid-fire spray of bullets was barely interrupted, reloaded lightning quick and drawing on what seemed like a infinite supply of ammunition.  The sounds and words the mutant were screaming were almost as frightening as his gun.

 

She checked the pistol on her hip. Only two bullets left in the clip, not enough to make even a dent.  All that was left was the laser rifle she'd taken from a synth a couple days earlier.  Higher damage than her assault rife, but a much much slower rate of fire.  She checked the cells.  Barely enough to take down the monster, and that was assuming she landed hits on vital spots with every shot.

 

She glanced up to see MacCready watching her, taking stock of her weapons and ammo along with her. His eyes met with hers and she could tell that he'd reached the same conclusion.  There was only one way she was getting out of there alive.

 

"Run for it!"

 

She understood him more from reading his lips than actually hearing the words and if there were any doubt about what he wanted her to do, the pleading in his eyes made it clear.

 

She looked at the big double doors leading out to the street. She could make it easily.  Crawl under that table, duck behind that bench, sprint the last ten feet to the door.  She'd be outside in the relative safety of the square in a matter of seconds.

 

Looking back to MacCready, his eyes begged her to go. Save herself, leave him behind.  It wouldn't be the first time she'd had to leave someone behind, everyone who spent their days on the surface lived their lives knowing any day could be their last.  It was the way of things, an unspoken understanding.

 

But this was MacCready.

 

This was her friend.

 

Her _best_ friend if she wanted to be honest.

 

MacCready was one of the only people she'd met in the Commonwealth who valued her existence for _more_ than just what she could do to further a cause or help someone out.  He was one of the few people who wasn't constantly asking her to go here or do this, who appreciated who she was but expected nothing of her.

 

She'd given up counting days and following the calendar forever ago, but she knew it'd been ages since they'd last spent a day apart. There was always somewhere to go or something to do, and MacCready was always the one there beside her, wandering the wasteland.

 

Every morning when she walked out of Sanctuary, he was never far behind her. And now, for her to walk out of that church, to cross the Commonwealth, to return to Sanctuary without him...

 

Just the thought of it was unbearable.

 

Better to die here fighting beside him than to leave him behind and save herself.

 

She was brought back to the moment when she felt something warm and wet on her leg. The noxious blood of the headless mutant was pooling around her feet, running between the cracks of the uneven wooden slats of the floor.

 

It hit her then what to do. She crawled forward and pried the enormous gun from the super mutant's lifeless hands.  She heard MacCready yell something to her, but she didn't understand him.  She wouldn't look at him.  She wouldn't be swayed from her decision.

 

The gun was heavy, but she could make it work. Best part, there was ammo to spare.

 

She groaned and had to bite back tears from the pain in her ribs as she hoisted the gun to herself. She grabbed a stimpak from one of the pockets on her belt and stabbed it into her thigh with a grunt.  Almost immediately, she felt the medicine surging through her body, beginning to mend her wounds, dulling the pain.

 

Anticipating a pause as the mutant reloaded, she clutched the heavy gun to her side and crouched behind the cabinet. As soon as she heard the first click of an empty chamber, she was on her feet and squeezing the trigger.

 

The gun roared to life, the weight and force of it nearly knocking her off her feet. She spread her legs for balance and held her breath, aiming as best she could with the unwieldy weapon.

 

Time seemed to slow down as the bullets ripped through the enormous mutant. The gun dropped from his hands as he staggered backwards against the wall, blood spouting out of holes in his chest and abdomen.  One of his arms hung mangled and useless by his side, the knee going out in his opposite leg as he stumbled to a kneel.

 

She continued to squeeze the trigger, not even aware of the fact that she was screaming as she did it. She didn't let go until the super mutant's head was on the ground in pieces next to his body and the gun in her hands clicked worthlessly.

 

She dropped the gun and fell to her knees. All of the adrenaline and fear threatened to overwhelm her as tears ran down her cheeks.  She'd done it, she was alive.  She'd been so afraid, so close to running out those doors and saving herself, but she'd stayed.  She'd survived.

 

Her eyes snapped open and she looked for MacCready. He was still sitting on the floor with his back against a bench, but he was now leaning to one side weakly.  Blood leaked from the wound in his chest, the hand that had been pressed there was lying on his rifle across his thighs.  His eyes were closed and his face pale, so pale that she was suddenly terrified that he might be dead.

 

"Mac!" she called out, crawling on all fours across the blood and debris. He didn't respond, but when she reached his side, she could hear his weak, ragged breathing, barely audible over the ringing in her ears.

 

She pulled two stimpaks out of a pouch and jammed them one after the other into his leg, sitting back on her heels and waiting for the medicine to take effect.

 

It only took a few seconds for the stimpaks to go to work. MacCready's eyes shot open and he jolted upright with a sharp intake of air.  He gasped loudly a few times before catching his breath and slouching back against the bench with a sigh.  He looked at her, kneeling by his side, and managed a small smile.

 

"Almost lost me there," he said, sounding a little too casual considering how true his words really were.

 

"I was afraid I had," she laughed weakly. She rubbed a dirty hand across her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears that were blurring her vision.  At this point, she wasn't even sure where the tears were coming from.

 

He looked at her a moment and sighed again. "That was reckless," he said, "which is saying a lot, coming from me.  You should've run."

 

"I couldn't leave you," she said, shaking her head. Adrenaline forced the words out of her mouth before she had a chance to stop them.  "I couldn't watch someone I love die in front of me.  Not again."

 

His face changed at that, his expression softened, eyes widening slightly. She'd told him before that she hoped for more than just friendship between them.  He hadn't considered it before she'd mentioned it, but her admission had made him acutely aware of how much he liked the idea.  And now, here she was basically telling him that she loved him.

 

He lifted his left arm, rotating the shoulder slowly and flexing his fingers to make sure everything worked again. He brought his hand up to the back of her head and pressed their foreheads together.  He closed his eyes and after a moment, she closed hers as well.

 

He sighed. "Let's get out of here and go home."

 

She nodded.

 

Stimpaks were a wonderous thing, often thought to be closer to magic than medicine. They could mend broken bones, heal the worst wounds, and cure just about anything physically wrong with you.  The wounds would still ache though, throbbing deep until they healed completely.

 

It took them several minutes to help each other to a standing position and gather what few things they could from the floor around them. It was already dark by the time they stepped out onto the street and headed west towards Sanctuary.  She put an arm over his shoulders and he wrapped his good arm around her waist, keeping one another moving in slow, pained steps.

 

It took almost two hours to cross the fields and tufts of scraggly trees to Sanctuary. A few of the settlers were still up, trying not to look too anxious over the late return of their leader as they gathered around the security lights, looking out into the darkness.

 

They limped together to the workshop and dropped their bags unceremoniously in the middle of the floor with promises of putting everything away first thing in the morning. She separated from him, sliding her hand down his arm to give his hand a firm squeeze.  Giving him a wordless smile that spoke volumes about her relief, she turned and headed towards her hut.

 

Several weeks back, she'd been out on missions to the far side of the Commonwealth once for almost a week when the settlers at Sanctuary had decided to build her a home while she was gone. For someone who does as much for others as she does, they felt she deserved to have her own space, separate from the barracks-like dwellings of everyone else.  She argued that they all deserved their own space, but gratefully accepted the gift.  It was barely more than a one-room shack, but it was a luxury few people had.

 

She bent stiffly to give Dogmeat a scratch on the head on the front steps before opening the door to her house and going in. A lamp on a stand dimly lit the space, sparsely decorated with an old couch and a small table, a couple scavenged chairs and a dirty mattress in the corner for a bed.  A dusty painting of a lighthouse overlooking a bay hung above the couch, a small reminder of a world that only few remembered.

 

She'd pulled her helmet and heavier bits of armor off and tossed them on a chair, about to crawl into bed fully clothed when she heard a noise behind her.

 

MacCready stood in the doorway, clearing his throat almost awkwardly.

 

"Mac?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

 

He took a step into the room. "I...wanted to talk to you," he said, "and I couldn't wait for the morning."

 

He took off his cap and scratched the back of his head absently. She couldn't help but smile at the ridiculous way his hair plastered to his head after long days under his hat.  He put it on and pulled it back into place before continuing.

 

"When you said you were hoping for more than friendship between us, it made me realize that without even knowing it, I wanted the same," he said. "I didn't know what to do.  I felt guilty about Lucy, about your husband."

 

"Mac, I-"

 

"No, let me finish," he said, taking a step towards her. "What I've had to realize is that Lucy is gone.  Nate is gone. _Nothing_ is going to change that, but what we have is a chance for a new life now.  We can remember the past, but we have to _live_ in the present.  The thing is...having you this close to me has made me happier than I've ever been before."

 

She didn't respond right away, swallowing thickly. "In all this time since I left the vault," she said, "you're the one shining light that's kept me going, that's kept me working and fighting and searching for my son.  I will always love my husband, but I know that he wouldn't want me to live in this world alone."  She smiled at him then.  "No matter how horrible the world gets around me, you always manage to make me smile.  I have to believe that that's what he would have wanted for me."

 

MacCready smiled, a content smile that went all the way to his eyes. "Today when you told me that you loved me," he said, "it was the greatest moment of my life."  He closed the distance between them and pulled her to him, hands on her hips.  "I love you too, doll."

 

She didn't have a chance to respond before they were kissing. His lips were on hers, hard but honest, not frantic but insistent.  She wound her arms around his neck as he pulled away to look at her.

 

"With you at my side," he said, meeting her eyes, "I feel like I can take on the world. There's no bond stronger than that.  Like it or not, I plan on walking this earth with you until the day I die."

 

She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. "I suppose I can live with that."

 

 


End file.
